Everyone knows a few film festival names: Cannes, Comic-Con, and Venice International Film Festival. All the big names attend these events — which will kick off in the coming months — and people tune in worldwide on social media to see who’s wearing what and which films take home the honors. But several underrated film festivals are happening this summer for niche audiences that may be worth checking out for something different. This article will explore our top picks.
Fly Fishing Film Festival
Many people think fishing is a niche activity and that there’s no audience for fishing adventure documentaries. However, we can actually see the activity’s influence and popularity across the entertainment industry. For example, did you know an entire online casino game is dedicated to fishing fans? Big Bass Bonanza is an online slot game where players try to catch bass and the reel symbols include fishing bobbers and fishing rods.
The film industry is no different. The Fly Fishing Film Festival is a seven-month tour across North America showing some of the best fishing adventure documentaries released in 2022/2023. This list includes After You’ve Gone, which explores one woman’s journey with loss and how spending time in the outdoors fishing keeps her moving. The tour began in early May in Tacoma, Washington, and will end in Albuquerque in November 2023.
New York Asian Film Festival
Likewise, over the last few years, Asian cinema has begun to receive the recognition that it deserves. In 2019, Parasite became the first South Korean film to receive Oscar recognition, of which it won Best Picture. Parasite also won the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or prize and grossed more than $250 million worldwide. Most recently, we have seen Netflix’s Beef, a primarily Korean-based black comedy-drama, receive critical acclaim following its release in April 2023. For these reasons, it’s worth following along with the 2023 Asian Film Festival to celebrate emerging Asian talent and filmmakers. The event will run from July 14 until July 30 at New York’s Lincoln Centre.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>SAVE THE DATE! NYAFF 2023 July 14 – 30th at Film at Lincoln Center!<a href=”https://t.co/NhltJthZjB”>https://t.co/NhltJthZjB</a></p>— New York Asian Film Festival (@NYAFF) <a href=”https://twitter.com/NYAFF/status/1646189000967745537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>April 12, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Indy Shorts Film Festival
One of the most attractive things about tuning into the Indy Shorts Film Festival is that it’s a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards. The qualifying categories are Documentary, Animation, and Live Action. That means whatever film wins the Indy Shorts Film Festival will automatically be up for an Academy Award. In other words, you could potentially be backing an Oscar winner from the beginning. Plus, MovieMaker Magazine named the festival one of the best short film festivals in 2022, which means tuning in to this festival doesn’t get any more fashionable for true movie fans. The event will take place in Indianapolis, Indiana, between July 18 and July 23, 2023.
Many people forget that there’s a film festival for all niches and that it’s not always about which event will have the most celebrities walk down the red carpet, such as Cannes. This summer will be a reminder of that, with festivals like the Fly Fishing tour reminding movie fans that documentaries are still a popular genre in the overall industry and that emerging cultures are gaining traction in Hollywood faster than ever before.
